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Is Fidelity Fund (FFIDX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Having trouble finding a Large Cap Blend fund? Fidelity Fund is a potential starting point. FFIDX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

FFIDX is classified in the Large Cap Blend segment by Zacks, which is an area full of potential. Targeting companies with market caps of more than $10 billion, Large Cap Blend mutual funds offer a stable investment choice; these funds are perfect for investors with a " buy and hold " mindset. Since blended funds mix large, more established firms into their portfolios, investors are exposed to both value and growth opportunities.

History of Fund/Manager

FFIDX is a part of the Fidelity family of funds, a company based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Fund made its debut in April of 1930, and since then, FFIDX has accumulated about $7.29 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Jean Park, has been in charge of the fund since April of 2017.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. FFIDX has a 5-year annualized total return of 20.44% and is in the middle third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 21.79%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. FFIDX's standard deviation over the past three years is 17.55% compared to the category average of 17.5%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 14.35% compared to the category average of 14.4%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.92, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 3.3, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, FFIDX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.46% compared to the category average of 0.95%. So, FFIDX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $0 and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Fund ( FFIDX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on FFIDXin the Large Cap Blend category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.

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